"This Floating World" is a collection of five musical illustrations of the following Haiku by Basho as translated by Robert Hass. I often use extra-musical material as a means of generating structure and color in my music. The idea of using these elegant images as a jumping-off point was very appealing to me.

I.
Midfield,
attached to nothing,
the skylark singing.

II.
Harvest moon—
the tide rises
almost to my door.

III.
Winter solitude
in a world of one color,
the sound of wind

IV.
A petal shower
of mountain roses,
and the sound of the rapids.

V.
A wild sea –
and flowing out toward Sado Island,
the Milky Way.

For Linda Chatterton